Moroccan filmmaker and activist Abdellah Taïa discusses the social and political stigmatization of homosexuals in Arab and Muslim countries, on the heels of the release of his semi-autobiographical film Salvation Army.

Next month, Lambda Award finalist Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla will lead a session in the Indo-American Arts Council’s premiere Literary Festival in New York City. Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie will also be present.

WNYC interviews Whitney Joiner–the founder of The Recollectors, an initiative that records the memories of the children who lost their parents to AIDS–about her closeted father, who only lived to see her turn thirteen years old.

Papermag offers a glimpse into the over-the-top hedonism and bizarre job opportunities that defined New York City nightclubs in the relatively lawless 1980s and early ’90s, before Mayor Giuliani’s term.

Alec Johnsson is a member of the Class of 2015 at Haverford College, where he majored in English and minored in Anthropology. He is from White Plains, New York and has studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some of his thoughts can be found on his blog, Hydroplaning to Byzantium.